09 Januari 2015

A Libyan military spokesman told the BBC that the ship's
movements at the port of Derna had aroused suspicion. The oil company rejected
this, saying the ship was delivering fuel to industrial facilities there and
authorities had been kept informed.

Derna is now controlled by Islamist insurgents -
Wikipedia says by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) forces. The Libyan
military attacked the port several times last year in an attempt to dislodge
them.

Government spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mesmari said the
tanker had been targeted because it had failed to submit to an inspection
before entering the port.

Colonel Mesmari said the vessel was supposed to dock at a
power plant in Derna but instead "took a different route", entering a
"military zone".

"We asked the ship to stop, but instead it turned
off all its lights and would not respond so we were obliged to strike it. We
bombed it twice."

Col Mesmari told Reuters the vessel had been bringing
Islamist fighters to Derna. "We had warned any ship not to dock at the
port without prior permission," he said.

The National Oil Corporation did not comment on the
allegation but said the bombing of the tanker would have a "very
negative" impact on oil shipping from Libyan ports.

Libya has been in chaos since President Muammar Gaddafi
was killed with western military assistance in 2011.

Numerous insurgent militias govern territory within the
country successive governments, based in Tobruk from September, struggling to
seize them back, having been dislodged from the capital, Tripoli last year.

"We strongly condemn the January 4 bombing of a
Greek-operated oil tanker near Derna," said State Department spokeswoman
Jen Psaki.

"The ongoing escalation of violence in Libya against
civilian commercial interests further widens a conflict that is fundamentally
political," she said.

"The United States remains committed to working with
the international community to help the Libyan people establish an inclusive
system of government," said Ms Psaki.